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This is why Enzo Ferrari changed the car-industry!

On the 18th of February in 1898 the innovative car maker Enzo Ferrari was born. Little did we know that he would go on to change automotive history forever. Let’s take a look at why he was so important for the industry.

Formula 1
His determination made it possible for Scuderia Ferrari to become the oldest surviving and most successful F1 team, having competed in every world championship since the 1950 season. Although he used to visit just the Italian GP’s, his passion was always present, no matter which Grand Prix.

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He is responsible for Lamborghini
Let’s be honest, without Enzo Ferrari the brand Lamborghini would not even exist as of today. How come you ask? Ferruccio Lamborghini became very wealthy from his tractor business. Like anyone who comes into wealth, he bought several luxury cars, including a Ferrari. Lamborghini had a passion for cars, so much so that he began racing some of the cars he had purchased. However, since he knew quite a bit about car mechanics he decided that the cars he raced needed a little changing. When it came to racing his Ferrari, he noticed that it was much too noisy and rough on the road. Another issue with the car was that the interior clutch needed repairing often. When Ferrari told Lamborghini he didn’t want advice from the tractor mechanic, a rivalry of years had begun. This started Lamborghini’s passion for cars. At first it was just a hobby and most likely to annoy Enzo Ferrari, but it later became his passion.

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His own race track
In 1972 Enzo Ferrari build his own test track which is still being used for developing new cars. It has a wide range of corner types to simulate as many Grand Prix’s track as possible. Niki Lauda once said in an interview: ‘’The track is incredible, it has a lot of technical features around the track including a timer which measures the time of every part of the track. If I drive fast enough on the straight but not in the corner, I can exactly see where I have to improve the speed. This way it’s very easy to test cars there.’’ One of the reason Enzo built Pista di Fiorano was to stay at home as much as possible. He wanted to put all of his energy on the cars he was building.

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Fastest production car
Enzo Ferrari claimed the F40 could easily reach 200 mph or 322 km/h. And it did. It was actually the fastest production car (+500 unites) until 1990 when Lamborghini revealed the Diablo. Some may say both the Porsche 959 S and RUF CTR were faster and that’s partly true, but both were not production cars (limited to 345 and 29 unites).

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Without Enzo Ferrari, the automotive industry would not be what it is now, and we would like to take this time to celebrate his life. Join us on Instagram today to take a look back at his life!